we've never been so many, and we've never been so
by morallyambiguous
Summary: He looks at his circle of friends, superior eyes seeing their faces clearly despite the dark; there are five where there used to be six.


**Title: **we've never been so many, and we've never been so alone

**Category: **Young Justice

**Character(s): **Conner Kent/Superboy, Wally West/Kid Flash, Kaldur'Ahm/Aqualad, Artemis Crock/Artemis, M'Gann M'Orzz/Miss Martian, Dick Grayson/Robin

**Pairings: **a pinch of Aqualad/Artemis

**Words: **2,657

**Genre(s): **Hurt/Comfort/Family

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **He looks at his circle of friends, superior eyes seeing their faces clearly despite the dark; there are five where there used to be six. He doesn't know how long there it will stay that way. Robin and Artemis have been taking more and more dangerous missions ever since the accident, but they're all over eighteen now, so there's no mentor to stop them.

**Prompt:** Six alternate futures where a member is dead and one where they grew up together.

* * *

><p><em>vi.<em>

The base is empty; abandoned by those who should have known better than to let children out to fight in the first place. Superboy (no, not Superboy, Conner, this is no place for Superboy, not today) knows that he shouldn't be here, none of them should be here, but they would be damned before they let the Justice League take this from them, not when they'd already taken—not when they'd already taken so much.

None of the lights are on; the cave looks sinister in the dark, but it's worse in the light. The bloodstains had never wanted to come out anyway.

He looks at his circle of friends, superior eyes seeing their faces clearly despite the dark; there are five where there used to be six. He doesn't know how long there it will stay that way.

Robin and Artemis have been taking more and more dangerous missions ever since the accident, but they're all over eighteen now, so there's no mentor to stop them.

(There's no mentor to save them either, but they had stopped relying on them when the first of them fell anyway.)

He hasn't seen Kaldur in months, he's almost surprised to see him here, his eyes glowing dimly in the dark of the cave, his mouth set in a neutral expression that's not really neutral because Conner can see his arms shaking and his fists clenching and unclenching in time.

M'Gann's mind brushes lightly against his, looking for a friend to anchor herself to in the midst of everyone's violent emotions. She's not in her human form, mindful of the last wish of a comrade.

He had always told her that she was prettier in her Martian form.

Conner sees that no one's about to talk, so he starts.

"He was the person who showed me the television for the first time. He saved my life dozens of times. Even when he made fun of me for not understanding things, he took the time to explain them to me. I don't think I ever thanked him for that. I didn't thank him for a lot of things. And then he died, I don't know if he can hear us right now, but if you can, Wally…. thanks. Thanks for everything."

_v._

The rubble from a battle long-fought surrounds them, but all Kaldur can think of is the fact that he saw Conner go down thirty minutes into the fight and didn't hear the roar of him getting back up. The city they were fighting in (Star City, Metropolis, Central City? He honestly cannot be bothered to remember) has fallen to ruin in the face of the Justice League fighting against a person who called himself Superboy; his team knew better.

The angry teen that had come from the sky that fateful day had not been their Superboy. Just as the man who had come through, calling himself Superman had not been their Superman, and the Justice Lords, not their League. Conner was rough-and-tumble, but he had never purposely hurt someone innocent, he never attacked unless he was provoked, he would yell, but he never attacked.

Kaldur limps to the spot where he saw the clone go down, stepping over the remains of civilization. He sees key members of the Justice League—Superman, cape tattered and torn, Wonder Woman, her body covered in a fine layer of dust, the Flash, suit almost torn to shreds—encompassing the ring of dented concrete.

The circle parts. The conversation ends as he approaches. He's so far gone that he doesn't realize what it means. At least he doesn't until he's right in front of the hole in the ground, looking down at an unmoving Conner.

He limps faster, his King tries to help him; Kaldur shrugs him off, and nearly falls down the deep sides of the hole.

He drags himself to Conner, whispering to himself frantically, he can't be dead. He just can't. Not after everything they'd gone through. He wasn't going to let one of his teammates die, not now, not ever.

It's too late, though.

Kaldur kneels next to the cooling body of his comrade, his friend, and wishes that he had been better, that he had been enough to save Conner. He wishes that he was half the leader that Batman was. The League had survived; Conner had not.

Kaldur would've given anything so that he would have.

_iv. _

Artemis scowls at the picture next to her bed. It had been taken months ago; the faces of her teammates smile back at her. Her eyes go over the picture carefully, taking in Wally smiling; Robin sitting on both Wally's and Conner's shoulders, looking to all the world like the cat that ate the canary. Conner himself wore a small smile, a little unsure, a little awkward, and just the tiniest bit embarrassed. M'Gann held his hand lightly in hers, smiling the serene smile that was practically her default expression and in her other hand was Artemis's own. Artemis herself looked like she'd rather be anywhere but there, but there was a small indulgent smile on her face, matching the one on Kaldur's.

She remembered that day clearly, the way that M'Gann had talked each reluctant member of the team, each one more reluctant than the last, into taking a group picture. She'd gathered them all up in front of Mt. Justice, with a camera she had gotten from who-knows-where.

They'd made a day out of it.

Everyone had been running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Except her and Kaldur, he'd taken a book and sat down underneath a tree, and she had laid down next to him, telling him to read to her. She'd let his voice, soothing and calm, wash over her like the water he controlled.

She took the picture off of her nightstand, fingers running over the smiling faces gently. This was the last time she'd been happy.

This was the last time they'd all been happy. That was before the last mission she'd ever taken.

She turned over to face the ceiling.

If there was one thing she missed (and there were many, many things) about Kaldur, it was probably his voice, strong and steady like him.

Even at the very end he'd been strong.

She closed her eyes and let her mind take her back to that day at Mt. Justice.

"_Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversation in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?"_

_iii. _

They're trapped. They know it and their captors know it. There's no way they're getting out of this alive. M'Gann can see this coming from miles away, and she doesn't want to, she really doesn't want to, this is too close to the wars on Mars; too close to cousins and aunts and uncles falling in a war. She doesn't know why she thought it would be any different here on Earth, she's still fighting; it's just a different war. She closes the mind link; no one should suffer the backlash of someone dying while they were still connected. It left scars in the souls of Martians older than she was by several dozen years.

That's why she doesn't know what's about to happen until the moment it does. They're running, all of them, because even though they know it's impossible for them to get out alive, they'll be damned if they don't try their hardest.

The people following them are gaining; their shots are getting more accurate as the teens in front of them tire. And while she can't read anyone's mind, she can tell the exact second the decision is made. Wally's in the front, holding an injured Robin and avoiding anything that might cause the boy in his arms harm. Kaldur's on Conner's back, looking to all the world like a dead man, but she knows better. And she and Artemis are holding up the back. They turn a corner and suddenly M'Gann can't see Artemis behind her anymore.

She turns around, fearing the worst. It hasn't yet come to pass, but something in Artemis's eyes says that it's going to happen soon.

She's set herself down, arrows flying deadly and straight (she stopped holding back half-an-hour ago); all around her are the fast cooling bodies of her enemies. She reminds M'Gann of the warriors of old, Martians whose prowess in battle had been unmatched and who had left the bodies of their enemies on the battlefield around them.

She's bleeding from a side wound the M'Gann hadn't noticed before. She lowers her bow for a second. "Go M'Gann!"

M'Gann's seen this before; seen a comrade sacrifice themselves so that someone else could go on. She's not going to let it happen again.

"I said, go, M'Gann, now."

M'Gann stays.

"If you want the team to have any chance at all of getting out of this alive, go. Now."

M'Gann will regret this to her dying day (and possibly even beyond) but she does go. The rest of the team makes it out alive.

That's all Artemis really wanted anyway.

_ii._

The hot summer sun beats down on him and sweat drips down his back as he plants the last sapling. There are fifty in all; they'll all grow to be big strong trees with bright colorful flowers, the kind she would've worn had she still been alive.

The others had offered to join him, but he didn't want that. This was one of many things he had to do by himself. They'd all taken up their own projects in memory of the girl who had been the heart of the team.

This was his.

Artemis had started baking. Little treats were always around base, always slightly burnt but delicious because they were made with care. Sometimes when he passed he could hear her talking to someone who was no longer there; that was all right, they all did it sometimes.

Conner had started flying a month ago. He took to it with a fervor they were unused to seeing, often using the ability even when he didn't need to; flying every which way in a slightly more masculine way than their first flyer, but no less graceful.

Wally read, Wally read a lot, and tried to understand. He read about magic and tried to understand, something that he had only pretended to do when she was alive. He talked to Kaldur, he talked to Dr. Fate, he talked to Zatara, and he tried to open his mind just a little bit more.

Kaldur continued his studies (as much of them as he could) in her memory. She had often encouraged him to continue sorcery, even if only long-distance, she had always envied his ability.

And Robin, Robin had his trees. One brightly colored tree for each year she'd been alive, fifty in total. Cherry, Crabapple, Crape Myrtle, Flowering Dogwood, Goldenchain; he had them all and more. He knew that it didn't change anything, any of their problems, any of the past, her death. But he liked to think that she would've wanted them to take something from knowing her, that she had made an impact in their lives.

She wouldn't have wanted them to cry for her, not for long at least, she was a good person like that.

He sighed, looking up at the sky, bright blue and cloudless above him. He could almost see her flying circles in the air before coming back down to give him a lift. He turned away from the sun.

He wants her back.

He really, really does.

_i._

He shouldn't be here, because no matter how much he meant to the deceased, it's still dangerous and too hard to explain. He rubs at his eyes. It isn't fair, dammit. Artemis is there in the crowd, long blonde hair contrasting against Roy's black suit, her shoulders shaking with sobs, and so is Kaldur, a delegation from Atlantis because of the deceased's father's work with Atlantis. He can't cry, because he didn't "know" him. But Kaldur knew Robin, so he knew him better than almost all of the people here. Wally knew him best though. He didn't know just Robin, he knew Dick too.

He knew Dick, saw him for who he was and what he did, and he'd never looked down on him, but he couldn't go to the funeral. He's stuck here far away from where his _best friend _is being buried and he can't _do _anything.

He couldn't do anything _then _and he can't do anything _now._

The guilt twists in his gut, because he can remember every second of Robin falling in a cruel parody of the first Flying Graysons dying, and he remembers being unable to do anything but watch his best friend fall in slow motion (because real time is always slow motion for speedsters) to his death.

But mostly he remembers Robin and Dick and the best friend he's ever had and how that's over now.

It's all over.

_0._

The base is loud and full of teens and mentors alike, everyone in high spirits, three years as a team was pretty impressive, even among the Leaguers, and they the _sidekicks _had managed it.

Wally looks around at his family, green eyes bright with life and love, laugh ringing out the loudest in the room as he gestures animatedly about something-or-other to Conner who just looks mildly bemused.

Conner listens to the cacophony of voices that swells and dips with laughter and conversation and familial warmth. His voice when he talks to Wally is not the broken glass one he used when he got out of the pod, it's been softened by love and friendship and a good life (a hard life, but a good one, none the less).

Kaldur intertwines his fingers with Artemis's, careful of his webbing, and smiles down at her as she gets into a heated argument with Roy, more playful bickering than any of the actual malice. He smiles as M'Gann brushes past him and is surprised when Roy claps a hand down on his shoulder talking about if he hurt Artemis he'd repay him ten-fold. He'd been hoping to avoid this conversation.

Artemis rolls her eyes at Roy's overprotective behavior, still not entirely used to it, but then he gathers her in his arms talking about how "if Kaldur defiled his little sister there would be words had, with arrows, lots and lots of arrows." He smells like aftershave and boy, so she pushes him off, enjoying the smell of baking and _home_ that she's come to associate with the cave.

M'Gann bites into a cookie, enjoying the melt of chocolate in her mouth, and smiles again at Wally who laughs and says that she has chocolate in her teeth, but she doesn't take it personally. She tells him he has a milk moustache, something no one's wanted to tell him up until now because it's just too damn hilarious. He smiles and makes a joke about cookies and cream and how she'd been totally obsessed with it since he'd shown it to her. She sticks her tongue out at him and takes the last cookie just as he's grabbing it.

Robin balances high above them all, out of the fray for once and smiles down at his family. They may be small and slightly dysfunctional (Wally never picks up his socks, Artemis blares obnoxious music all hours of the day, Kaldur drips all over the place, Conner needs an ungodly amount of coffee in the morning, M'Gann forgets to knock), but they've made it work for three years.

And _nothing _and _no one _can take that from them.


End file.
